Hyper At Hogwarts - Year 3
by SideshowJazz1
Summary: Fern Jordan is looking forward to her third year at Hogwarts with her best friends, but things are worse than ever. Someone's broken out of Azkaban, Dementors are everywhere, and Draco Malfoy, is, again, blackmailing Fern, and she's slowly falling for him. However, their DADA teacher seems to actually be good for once. And if anyone can escape an Azkaban escapee, it's the Quartet!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! I'm back, with Fern and another year at Hogwarts! Thank you for reviewing on the last chapter, Lauren Kassidy, again, the ONLY person who did so.**

**Disclaimer: Do I look like J.K Rowling to you? Yes, I am in love with one of the Marauders, but they still belong to her. I own Fern.**

**Also, yes, I used to crush on Draco, but I moved on to...guess which Marauder!**

Fern Jordan was enjoying her summer much more than the previous summer. The young witch still couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts, her school, but there were some improvements. For one thing, she was able to keep up a correspondence with all three of her closest school friends. She was bored, though, because she was alone. All her home friends were on holiday for half the summer, and she didn't get a chance to see her school friends. Hermione Granger was in France with her parents. Ron Weasley's family had won money in something that Fern didn't know about, and they all went to Egypt, keeping some back so Ron could get a new wand, since last year's one had snapped and mostly affected the caster rather than what it was supposed to affect. But Harry Potter, Fern's other best friend, was able to receive her letters. He lived with his aunt and uncle during the summer, who hated magic, and wouldn't let him write, but the year before, his letters had been intercepted.

Fern also called him frequently, but knew after her last experiences not to mention that she was Harry's friend from school. Ron had once called Harry at the beginning of the summer, Fern had discovered. Being from a pureblooded wizard family, he'd never used a telephone before, and he'd yelled everything. Apparently, Harry's uncle had yelled through the phone at Ron to never call again and stay away from his family.

However, Fern had been getting phone calls from another kid at her school. She'd met Draco Malfoy on her first day, and most of the time, she thoroughly wished she hadn't. Sure, he was fun to annoy, but mostly, she wanted to hex him stupid. While Fern and her friends were all in Gryffindor house, he was in Slytherin, their rival house. He and Harry even played the same position on their house Quidditch teams. Draco was also hugely discriminatory. He was all about blood status in magic, being pureblooded himself, and had no qualms about using the worst word for muggleborns (people with non-magical parents) – 'mudblood'. He first called Hermione that, and although Fern had the same blood status, he'd never called her that. She'd slapped him for the honour of her friend, anyway.

But anyway, he seemed to have learned how to use a telephone, and he called Fern up frequently. One time he called, Fern was hanging out with her friends outside, and they'd all wanted to tell Draco off for what he'd been doing to Fern. Since first year, he'd asked her out, and she'd only agreed because he blackmailed her with information that would get her in trouble with her least favourite professor. The next year, he reminded her about how much the Quartet of friends broke rules, and how much trouble he could get her into. Still, he got quite annoyed when Fern's friends chewed him out.

Hermione was back from France long enough to stay with Fern for a few days. Fern introduced her to her home friends, and they discussed a whole bunch of things. They had a lot of fun, although once Hermione found out Fern hadn't finished her summer homework, she insisted on Fern doing it before they did anything fun together. She did help, but then out of the whole Quartet, Hermione was the brainiac of the group, helping Fern and the boys with their homework, and actually paying attention to Professor Binns during History of Magic, the most boring class at Hogwarts. In fact, Hermione was taking every single elective subject, while Fern, Harry and Ron were all taking Divination and Care Of Magical Creatures, and Fern was also taking Muggle Studies (because she thought it would be a cheat , since she already knew her Muggle stuff, having been one for ten years). Hermione had Arithmancy and Ancient Runes to take care of, too.

The Hogwarts letter for the year came with a permission slip to go and visit Hogsmeade, a town nearby Hogwarts. Fern was excited, because although she loved the school grounds, it would be fun to explore a bit.

The day before the start of term, Ron, Hermione and Fern arranged to meet in Diagon Alley and get their school stuff together. Ron had already told the group that Harry was staying at the Leaky Cauldron after an incident concerning his uncle's sister. The whole Weasley family was also going to be staying there, and so the two girls were also given permission. Then on the day, everyone could get to the train station together. That meant not just the Quartet, but also Ron's older brothers – Percy, who was a seventh year and Head Boy, and the Weasley twins (Fred and George) who were both fifth years and notorious pranksters – and Ron's younger sister, Ginny, who was a second year and had a huge crush on Harry.

The three other kids were at the ice-cream parlour when they finally spotted Harry and called him over.

"Finally!" exclaimed Ron. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and then we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and-"

"I got all my school stuff last week." Harry explained. "How did you know I was at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Dad." Ron answered. Ron's father worked at the Ministry of Magic, and Harry turning his uncle's sister into a human balloon would have caught their attention.

"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" Hermione asked, very seriously. All three of her friends recognized her lecturing tone.

"I didn't mean to." Harry said as Ron and Fern started laughing. "I just lost control."

Hermione glared at the other two. "It's not funny."

After some discussion, the group headed off to the Magical Menagerie. Hermione's fourteenth birthday was near, and her parents had given her some money to buy her birthday present early. She wanted to buy a pet owl, same as Fern and Harry. Ron only had his rat, Scabbers, but since he was more out-of-it than usual, he brought him in to see if there was anything that would help him.

Hermione ended up buying a ginger cat called Crookshanks. It had tried to attack the group and Scabbers had been terrified of it, of course, but Hermione didn't seem to care. She adored it.

"He'd been in there for ages." she told the boys and Fern. "No one wanted him."

"I wonder why." muttered Ron. Then they all walked back to the Leaky Cauldron together.

**First chapter done. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Let's continue, shall we?**

Fern didn't know the Weasleys especially well, apart from Ron himself. She'd only met Ron's parents very briefly, and she'd hardly spoken to any of his siblings except Ginny.

They first met in the bar of the Leaky Cauldron. Ginny blushed when she saw Harry, as per usual. He'd basically saved her life the term before. She'd also supposedly sent him a singing Valentine, which had been performed in front of half the school.

Percy acted very formal. He was already wearing his Head Boy badge. He'd always been pretty self-important, having been a Prefect for two years, but Fern had to stifle her giggles when he greeted them.

The twins made fun of Percy by acting in the same way, laying it on thick. They hadn't been made prefects, and they didn't care. They were the troublemakers of the generation at Hogwarts. Fern couldn't tell them apart, since they nearly always used the typical twin trick of saying Fred was George or vice versa. Sometimes they called each other Gred and Forge.

The next day, it was time for the group to go through the pillar for Platform 9¾, as usual. The older boys went off with their friends on the train (In Percy's case, his girlfriend), but Ginny hovered near the four third-years.

Immediately the train rounded a corner, Harry muttered to the rest of the Quartet "I need to talk to you in private."

"Ginny, go away." Ron said bluntly.

"Oh, be nice!" Fern said as Ginny stalked off huffily, to find some other second-years, one could assume. The Quartet was left to find an empty compartment. The best they could find was one with only a sleeping man inside.

"Who do you reckon he is?" Ron whispered.

"Professor R.J Lupin." Hermione whispered back straightaway.

"How do you know that?"

"It's on his case."

"This year's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, I suppose." Fern muttered. "I just hope he's better than last year's." The most she had learned from the last DADA was not to let Cornish pixies run wild or cast a Memory Charm with a borrowed faulty wand. He'd ended up being sent to St Mungo's, a wizard hospital, after he tried to use Ron's old broken wand to wipe Fern and the boys' memories (Hermione was in the hospital wing, Petrified at the time). It was a good thing Ron had a new wand.

"Well," said Ron, looking at Lupin. "I hope he's up to it. He looks like one hex would finish him off. Anyway," he turned to Harry. "What were you going to tell us?"

The whole group listened as Harry explained. On the news, there had been warnings of an escaped murderer, Sirius Black. Even Fern and Hermione's families knew of it, since it had been on TV. However, what they weren't told was that Black was not just anyone – he was an escaped convict from Azkaban, the wizard prison. He was the first person to ever escape. And all signs pointed to him having escaped to go after Harry. He'd heard Ron's parents arguing over whether to tell him or not the night before, and Mr Weasley had warned him about it just before he got on the train.

"As if you needed someone else!" Fern muttered under her breath. Why were so many people trying to attack one of her best friends? Oh yeah, because he was the Boy Who Lived.

"You'll have to be really really careful." Hermione warned. "Don't go looking for trouble."

"I don't!" Harry protested. "Trouble usually finds me." His friends had to agree.

"Why would anyone do that, anyway?" Fern asked. "Look for someone who wants them dead, I mean? Yeah, yeah, it's the whole 'kill him before he kills me' idea, but honestly, would any of us have enough heartlessness to do that? And how stupid would we be to try and attack and defeat an ingenious infamous dangerous murderer at the age of thirteen?"

"No one knows how he broke out of Azkaban." Ron added. "No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too."

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" Hermione said, her confidence returning. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him, too."

Fern stared out the window silently, for a moment. Suddenly, she scowled. "I can't stand this!"

"What?" asked her friends.

"Everything!" Fern said harshly. "Don't get me wrong, I love being a witch, but this is so stressful. First year: We have to go out at night, get attacked, then all get points for it. Second year: One of us gets Petrified, and the rest of us battle the ultimate evil. Third year: A murderer's on the loose. It's been getting so stressful that just about anything would set me off. This time, it's all the information we get to show just how dangerous Black is."

Everyone changed the subject to Hogsmeade. Fern was starting to feel better after her outburst. Although she'd seemed fine after her breakdown after the Chamber of Secrets thing, she had still felt a bit shaken. Now she was more ready to move on from that than ever. She was still silent, though, even when Harry said that he couldn't go to Hogsmeade, since the Dursleys refused to sign his permission slip.

She only came to life when the door slid open and Draco looked in, flanked by his two minions, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well, look who it is." Draco said mockingly. "Potty and the Weasel." His minions laughed.

Fern stood up, with a sweet smile gracing her face. Her retort was said in her sweetest tone. "Well, look who's here. Is it Team Rocket? Oh, my mistake, is it the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister? Oh, wait, now I've got it, you must be the Powerpuff Girls!"

The rest of the Quartet exchanged grins, although Ron in particular had never watched TV and didn't have a clue what Fern was talking about. Draco, being a pureblood, would never have watched TV either, but Fern knew he was intelligent enough to work out that she was making fun of him and his minions.

Draco ignored her, anyway. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"

At that moment, the sleeping Professor Lupin gave a snort. "Who's that?" Draco asked.

"New teacher." Harry told him. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"

But it seemed that the Slytherins weren't going to start a fight in front of a teacher, even if they were comatose. Draco and his minions left.

Fern smirked at her friends. "I have to say, that was impressive. I like our new teacher already." she laughed. "So what did you think of what I said?"

"Well..." Ron admitted. "It was funny, but I didn't get it."

Hermione smiled. "That's because she was making references half the people on the train wouldn't have watched. They're all trios from television."

The train ride was going smoothly. Until the train stopped. And the lights went out, followed by Neville and Ginny coming in, and Neville nearly sitting on Crookshanks, who was out of his cat basket.

Suddenly-

"Quiet!" Lupin had finally woken up. Everyone fell silent. "Stay where you are." he warned, before starting towards the door. But the door slid open, and a cloaked figure with a hood and no face appeared. Fern's eyes adjusted, and she gave a squeal of fear at the creature. Suddenly, a feeling of cold swept over her, and she immediately saw images she had tried to forget since the day she saw them. She was remembering being in the Chamber of Secrets, watching Harry battle the Basilisk, about to die...

She was suspended in silence until the train was moving and the lights were back on. Everyone looked serious, but there was no damage done.

Well, Harry had passed out, but they were soon able to wake him up. Lupin explained that the cloaked figure was a Dementor, a type of creature that guarded Azkaban. He gave all of the kids a piece of chocolate, saying that it would help, before leaving briefly.

Fern cautiously took a bite of the chocolate, and the horrors she had relived faded slightly. "It really does help!" she mused out loud.

Harry was too preoccupied to think about the chocolate. He was saying that he'd heard someone screaming, yet no one had.

"Maybe it was from a memory?" Fern suggested. "I felt like I was back in the Chamber of Secrets."

It didn't take much longer to get to the station platform, and they were soon on the carriages, then at the door. But as they stepped off, the Quartet heard Draco again.

"You fainted, Potter? You actually _fainted_?"

Fern scowled and yelled back "I'll bet you fainted too, snake!"

"Shove off, Malfoy." Ron added.

"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" taunted Draco. "Did the scary Dementor frighten you too?"

The group began to go into the Great Hall, but almost immediately, Professor McGonagall called Harry and Hermione over while Fern and Ron went to the Gryffindor table by themselves while the Sorting took place. The other half of the Quartet only got back after the Sorting finished.

There was also a warning about the Dementors. They were being stationed around the school in case Black tried to break in – which was probable. They were warned to stay away, since Dementors didn't always distinguish between innocent teenagers and hardened criminals. Then there were two new teachers. The first was Professor Lupin, who was of course, taking DADA.

"Considering the chocolate's effect, I have a good feeling about him." Fern whispered.

The second teacher wasn't really new. He was taking Care of Magical Creatures after the original teacher retired. It turned out to be...Hagrid. That pleased the Quartet, although the textbook they had for the class kind of gave it away. CoMC required a textbook which tried to attack people. That was very much like Hagrid, since he often made friends with the most dangerous of creatures.

"Well," Fern remarked as everyone tucked into the start-of-term feast. "It seems like it will be another turbulent year." She grinned.

**OK, I know that was the longest chapter so far, but who cares? Please review!**

**Really, please review. No one reviewed last chapter, and I know people are reading it. So review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**OK, time to keep going.**

**Why hasn't anyone reviewed this? *Sobs***

Fern got to the hall earlier than the rest of the Quartet the next morning. She immediately noticed a little knot of third-year Slytherins Draco was entertaining. He was making fun of Harry's first brush with Dementors, so Fern strode up and interrupted.

"Get a life." she said firmly, glaring. "At least Harry isn't some snobby rich boy with nothing better to do than make fun of one of the coolest kids I know."

Harry walked in at that moment, and the Slytherins all started laughing as Fern walked off.

"Hey, Potter!" yelled Pansy Parkinson. "The Dementors are coming!" The other kids laughed.

"You know what they're like." sighed Fern to her friends. "But it still annoys me. I mean, I wouldn't find it that funny if Parkinson lived up to her name and got the disorder. But I'll bet she'd find it hysterical if I got transfigured and lived up to MY name."

The four kids sat down next to Fred and George, who passed them their new timetables and told them that Draco was scared enough when the Dementors came into his compartment.

Ron looked at Hermione's timetable over her shoulder. 'Hermione, they've messed your timetable up." he told her. "They've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time."

"I'll manage." Hermione said calmly. "I've fixed it all up with Professor McGonagall."

Ron pointed out that she had three classes going on at once. At that moment, Fern glanced at her timetable.

"OK, how is it that you have Muggle Studies during Arithmancy and Divination, but I have it at a different time?" she complained. "Now I'm going to be stuck in the class with the Slytherins – wait..." she smirked. "Oh, knowing the Slytherins and their pureblood supremacy thing they have, that class will be tiny."

Fern had just enough time to uphold a promise she'd made before class started. The year before, she'd tried to make friends with Moaning Myrtle, a depressed ghost girl that had died back when she was a student and lived in one of the girls' bathrooms. She was always feeling sorry for herself, and Fern felt a bit of sympathy. She didn't really like Myrtle much, but she felt sorry enough for her to keep a little friendship with her.

"Hey, Myrtle!" Fern called as she went into the bathroom.

"Who's that?" asked Myrtle's voice shakily from one of the cubicles.  
"Me, Fern." Fern answered. "Remember, I promised I'd visit you."

Myrtle floated into view. "Oh. Hi." As usual, she sounded depressed

"Was your summer OK?" Fern asked kindly.

"I'm always on my own in the summer!" Myrtle whined. "How could it be OK? None of the other ghosts talk to me, and there's no one else!"

Fern gave a sigh. "OK, OK. Look, I'll talk to you later. I have to get to class. See you later!"

Divination was first. They had misty-eyed Professor Trelawney, who nearly immediately made prophecies to all of Fern's roommates, bar Hermione. She warned Parvati Patil about a red-haired man (making her give Ron a suspicious look), and told Parvati's best friend Lavender Brown that something she dreaded would happen on the sixteenth of October. She also told Fern herself to guard herself carefully. Then she also implied that something wasn't right with Neville's grandmother.

"But will she be able to predict good things?" Fern wondered. She had been right about a few things, like knowing Neville would break a teacup, but nothing good. She'd also predicted death and doom in Harry's future (caused by Harry's tea leaves shaping into the sign of the Grim – a big black dog), which fitted in with the whole Murderer-After-Him thing.

After Divination was Transfiguration, but most of the class still had their minds on the death prediction. Professor McGonagall noticed how distracted everyone was and wanted to know what was going on. Hermione only had to mention Divination.

"There is no need to explain any more, Miss Granger." McGonagall told her. "Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

There was a pause.

"Me." Harry finally spoke up.

"I see." McGonagall said. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybil Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet." She obviously had no patience for Divination. "You look in excellent health to me, Potter," she finished, "So you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Fern felt reassured, and Hermione had already decided that Divination wasn't much of a proper subject (describing it as "woolly"), but Ron still seemed to worry about it, especially when Harry mentioned seeing an oversized black dog. Hermione continued to calmly insist that it must've been a coincidence.

Fern still wondered over Trelawney telling her to guard herself, and expressed her concerns to Hermione. What if Draco actually was trying to break her heart?

Hermione, again, assured her that Draco was just messing with her mind. After all, he hadn't tried to ask Fern out, or anything. "It's only a mind game."

Fern bit her lip anxiously. She hadn't told Hermione about the kiss the year before, which she couldn't forget, no matter how she tried. She'd liked it so much against her will.

Hermione started talking about Arithmancy and how she liked it, before leaving.

Ron stared after her and then asked "What's she talking about? She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."

After lunch, they had Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins, which meant they had to bring their savage textbooks. Draco was in the class, too.

"Why did he even decide to take this class?" Fern muttered, annoyed. He didn't seem like the animal-lover type at all.

Hagrid led the third-year class near the edge of the forest, just outside a field, then told them to open their books. To open them without getting bitten, all the class had to do was stroke them, which Draco poured scorn on. As Hagrid went to fetch the creature they'd be learning about, Draco started denouncing him. "This place is going to the dogs." he remarked. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him-"

"Shut up, Malfoy." Harry snapped.

"Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you." Draco taunted.

"Next time they're out, they'll be coming for you, not Harry," Fern began, but no one heard, as Lavender had squealed and pointed out the creatures, and as a result, they had everyone's attention.

The creatures were a mix of horses and eagles, with leathery wings. Hagrid explained that they were Hippogriffs, and Fern memorized most of the information. They were very proud, and would attack when insulted. When approaching one, bow, and only make another move if it bows back. If it didn't, run.

"Who wants to go first?" Hagrid asked.

Most of the students backed away, even the Gryffindors. Harry volunteered, and he even got on well with the one, called Buckbeak. He even got to ride him, although judging from his expression, a broomstick was much preferred.

The whole group was spurred on by that. Fern took one, and bowed nervously, still watching her Hippogriff. But it bowed back, and Fern stepped closer. "Wow, you're beautiful." she whispered. "Powerful, but also so sweet when you want to be!" She genuinely thought that.

Draco didn't have such good luck. He approached Buckbeak clumsily, and said "I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you, you ugly great brute?"

Five seconds later, Draco was on the ground, bleeding and screaming. Hagrid had to take him to the hospital wing, and all the Slytherins started venting. Pansy was actually in tears. Fern didn't cry, but she still felt a little worried. She would be anxious about anyone who got injured, but she wondered why she'd have such strong fears about a boy like Draco.

And as she looked at the Slytherins, a bright idea came to her.

**I've mentioned that idea in an earlier story. In your reviews, try and guess what Fern's thinking about doing! Trust me, it'll be funny.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, Fern's idea is coming up.**

Fern told the Quartet her idea in the common room, that night. Hermione was only half-listening, as she was still doing her homework, but the boys liked the idea. It was just a silly prank, but it would be very funny if everyone joined in.

"So we need to get this out to everyone except the Slytherins." Fern said. "The date can be September 10th, that gives us a week."

"Do I actually have to do this, though?" Harry asked. "I mean, what sane person would do that?"

Fern giggled. "Harry, you don't have to, but it'll be so funny to see the reactions on their faces. I'm definitely going to do it. Besides, we have a similar thing for redheads in our world."

Ron wasn't sure about it, but he nodded. "OK, I'm in."

Fern grinned. "Okay, we need promotional posters in the common rooms of every house except Slytherin. Harry, could you get one of the Hufflepuffs to tell their house? I'll ask Parvati to tell Padma to spread the word for the Ravenclaws." (Padma Patil was Parvati's twin sister from Ravenclaw).

Hermione looked up for a moment and said half-heartedly "You know you're going to get in trouble, right?"

Fern laughed. "Maybe so, but I'm not breaking any rules, am I? It's just a bit of fun. It doesn't hurt anyone."

After that, every moment Fern spent out of class when she wasn't doing homework, she spent making promotional posters.

Still, Fern had a lot on her mind. Draco reappeared in class on Thursday during double Potions, and he was in bandages and a sling. It was obvious he was playing up to the crowd, hoping Hagrid would get fired, even though he had warned the class against insulting Hippogriffs. He also kept complaining about his arm, so his workload in class was downsized. He purposely put his cauldron near Harry and Ron, so Snape kept picking on them to do things for him.

Neville was near Fern and Hermione, and Fern felt a bit of sympathy for him when he got stuff wrong. Neville was frequently getting things wrong in Potions. Part of the reason was because he got more clumsy when he was scared, and Snape terrified him. They heard every word the teacher said to the poor boy, making him even worse.

"Please, sir," Hermione spoke up. "I could help Neville put it right."

Snape silenced her with a cold glare. "I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger." Fern gritted her teeth. Snape obviously hated that Hermione was such a model student, and Fern hated that he took every opportunity to make Hermione's general kindness and intelligence look like a flaw. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice her anger, and simply told Neville that they'd test his potion out on his pet toad at the end of the lesson.

"That's animal cruelty as well as a punishment if he didn't do it right!" Fern whispered to Hermione.

Neville's potion worked perfectly, but Snape took five points off Gryffindor, even though he had no proof that Hermione had helped Neville.

Then they had Defence Against the Dark Arts that afternoon, and that gave Fern even more to think about. Everything she'd seen about Lupin so far, she liked. But as a teacher, what would he be like? He seemed nice, and like he knew his subject, though, so that was a good sign. But all she could be sure about was that he was probably better than Lockhart.

The first lesson was a practical one. All the class needed were their wands, and then Lupin led them out of the classroom to the staffroom. Only one teacher was there. But unfortunately, it was Snape. He left, but not without telling Lupin that Neville (who was in this class) couldn't do anything right without Hermione telling him.

Fern fought to keep the scowl off her face, but she gave Neville an encouraging smile, and thought about how Snape would react to her prank. She'd just have to see if anyone involved targeted him. Lupin said simply that he was going to ask Neville to help demonstrate the activity, and was sure he'd do it well. Neville went even more scarlet than he already was.

Their creature was in the wardrobe – a Boggart. Hermione explained that a Boggart was a shape-shifting creature that turned into the worst fear of the person nearest. Lupin explained that the charm to repel a Boggart was "Riddikulus", but it also needed force of mind and laughing to rend it powerless. When Harry was asked why they had an advantage, he answered that it was because there were so many people, and the Boggart wouldn't know what to turn into to scare all of them.

Then Neville was called forward. "First things first." said Lupin. "What would you say is the thing that frightens you the most in the world?"

After a couple of attempts, Neville finally stuttered out "Professor Snape."

"No wonder." Fern muttered out the corner of her mouth to the rest of the Quartet, as the class giggled.

Lupin looked thoughtful and said "Hmmm...Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Yes," Neville admitted, "But I don't want the Boggart to turn into her, either." This made Fern chuckle.

Lupin explained that what he meant was that if Neville concentrated on his grandmother's clothes while performing the charm, the Boggart would be forced to look like Snape in those clothes, which would make anyone laugh. Each student needed to think of something else – their worst fear, and how to turn it into something funny.

Fern thought of crocodiles, and remembered a baby one she'd seen that had its mouth held closed by a hair-band. In her mind, she imagined a crocodile with long blonde hair, and so much make-up and jewellery that the terrifying smirk didn't show, and it was too much of an effort for them to open their mouths.

"Take its legs off." Ron muttered to himself. His biggest fear was spiders.

Harry looked unsure of his greatest fear. Fern nudged him and whispered "You OK?" He nodded, but he didn't seem to know what to expect.

A likeness of Snape stepped out of the wardrobe, ready for Neville to perform the charm, which he did perfectly.

It happened again, with Parvati making a mummy trip over its bandages, Seamus making a Banshee lose her voice, and Fern's making up her crocodile. The group managed to start confusing it, and they even saw Lupin's fear – some kind of silver orb. Neville got rid of the Boggart completely. Then the lesson ended, and Lupin gave five house points to each person who faced the Boggart – Neville got double for facing it twice.

The Quartet discussed how good the lesson was. "He seems a very good teacher." Hermione approved. "But I wish I could've had a turn with the Boggart."

Ron laughed. "What would it have been for you? A piece of homework that only got nine out of ten?"

Fern giggled and said "Wouldn't it be failure?"

Hermione managed a smile and said "It would probably be one of the teachers saying I'd failed everything. I'd probably use the charm to tell me they were joking, and to hold out a report card with top marks."

Then the day of Fern's prank finally arrived. It was September the 10th. It started in the Great Hall.

Once everyone was having breakfast, Fern charmed a banner to hang above the Slytherin table. It read _Hug A Slytherin Day is today! Get your free hugs whenever you pass a Slytherin!_

This was Fern's plan. She was going to make sure the Slytherins got unwanted hugs. It was a harmless joke, but very effective. Nearly every hour, Fern would pass one kid hugging a random Slytherin. If she passed one not being hugged, she gave them a hug herself. She even hugged Pansy Parkinson, as well as a bunch of kids she didn't know. All she knew was that if the person wore silver and green ties, she was going to give them a hug. It was rumoured that a boy from fifth year had even dared to hug Snape, but no one really believed that.

That evening, the whole Gryffindor common room was abuzz. Fern hadn't let anyone know it was her, apart from her friends and the people she needed to tell others, but now it was out that the Hug A Slytherin Day was all her idea, and she got a lot of attention. Even the Weasley twins went over to congratulate her on a great prank with hardly any resources, which was a huge honour for her, since the twins were known to be the most trouble around school.

Percy did manage to get in a telling-off, but Fern didn't care. She just said "Come on, I wasn't hurting anyone! Didn't you want to give an unsuspecting Slytherin a hug?" She did have a detention coming up, but she didn't care. It had been worth it!

She wrote to her friends all about it, and they all complimented her on it. Fern also told her parents, and she got letters back from Jamie and her parents two days later.

Her parents one said: _Dear Fern,_

_How are you going? Did you get into trouble for that joke you pulled? I know you said it was harmless, but it was still a silly thing to do._

_Anyway, the Dementors are staying away from students, aren't they? They're not attacking anyone? We were a bit worried when you mentioned them. _(Fern began to wish she hadn't mentioned them at all.)

_How are classes? What's Divination like? How is that boy that got attacked in CoMC? (_Fern hadn't mentioned Draco by name but she had mentioned his incident with Buckbeak).

_Write back soon!  
Love, Mom and Dad_

Fern's letter from Jamie was very upbeat, asking her for more information, and congratulating her on the success of her prank. She asked for more details, and closed with _Just DON'T drop this. I don't want Draco picking this one up, too._

Fern hadn't yet talked to Draco properly, but she knew he was waiting for her to do so. She glanced over at the Slytherin table. At that moment, Draco looked up, and smirked when he saw her looking.

**So what do you think? I know, my idea was from "Things I Am Not Allowed To Do At Hogwarts", but I always thought it would be funny if someone actually did it. Please review!**

**I MEAN IT! PLEASE REVIEW!**


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